Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, has come into 2010 as a tragedy. The earthquake has been said to be the worst earthquake since 200 years.

The ground started to rumble just before 5 p.m. and about 10 miles southeast of Port Au Prince. The earthquake was said to be a 7.0 magnitude with several aftershocks. This 7.0 earthquake damaged the many poor, structured buildings of Port-au-Prince.

“Everybody is just freaked out and shaken’ the sky is just gray with dust” -Stated Henry Bahn after the horrific earthquake that many people were terrified of. The earthquake caused massive destruction. The people in Haiti didn’t know what to do for their loved ones or how to survive alone. Many people were stuck in the rubbles waiting for help. Sadly, most rescuers weren’t able to make it in time, and now we believe the people under the rubbles are dead if not yet rescued. The death toll was considered enormous, and we still do not know if our estimations are correct due to the fact of people in the rubbles. Researchers are guessing thousands of people are in the rubbles. We have made estimations which are not true yet. The latest estimate for the death toll is 150,000 casualties reported from the Haitian Health Ministry. The European Union and the Pan American Health Organization had estimated that over 200,000 people died from the earthquake. Researchers are still not sure yet, we the people do know that it is a large number. Also, it is estimated that 194,000 people were injured and 134 people that were saved by international search teams. Also, what’s crazy about this earthquake is that over fifty aftershocks have happened since the January 12 Haiti Earthquake. We are the only hope for Haiti. We have to do whatever we can to help their world, and life. We stand by them 100% until they are ready to face the world themselves. We must be a role model for Haiti. We stand ready to assist the people of Haiti” -States President Barack Obama at the emergency meetings held in Washington. The US assists them by sending rescue teams to Haiti. Most people are devastated of their close friends or families stuck in the rubbles. Most people are hungry, homeless, and poor. The rescue teams are here to help the people in needs. The rescue teams actually made some history, or at least the people under the rubbles did. Ricot Duprevil said that rescuers saved him after he spent two weeks (fourteen days) under the rubbles. The people are still not sure if this is true that he survived and was actually trapped, but if it is, he would match the record set in 1990 after a man that was pulled out of the hotel ruins after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the Philippines. Also, a 24-year-old man named Wismond Jean-Pierre was pulled out of the rubbles eleven days after the quake by the French rescue team. Also another amazing story was about a kid named Monley as he was found eight days after the quake. The stories are quite actually amazing and it makes us think that there might be more people under the rubbles still alive. That is why we still do not know the death toll of the earthquake. Many people are still under the rubbles. We do have hope for Haiti. We have been donating them over millions of dollars to support efforts, but there’s still a lot of work to go. People in Haiti are asking, “Will someone save me?” Our dream is to help Haiti as much as we can. We Americans must assist them and be ready for future disasters. Now, it’s time for the people to speak up, like me. In my opinion, I think Haiti will become stronger after this tragic quake. Haiti will show the world that it can come out as stronger before. Instead of Haiti being the poorest place located on the western hemisphere, it will instead be the most successful on the western hemisphere. But now you’re asking, why? I think that Haiti will learn from its mistakes from the past. Now that they understand what they have gone through, they will use their mistakes to get ready for future disasters. They will now know what they are expected to do in the future. I think, they will prepare for what they know what’s coming up.

We need to work together to fight this disastrous tragic. They will soon understand that working together as a team makes a bunch of accomplishes, and in my opinion, they will eventually reach this. I hope they learn from their previous mistakes to make a goal. Eventually, Haiti will get stronger to revive the damage that caused the earthquake becoming into a successful country. And lastly, they will soon learn that there is nothing stopping them from achieving the goal they’ve dreamed for, for years.

I also think that the money that thousands to millions of people are making to save Haiti will help them. It will make them understand that, we will need to pay for ourselves for the future. They may be helping them just because they feel sorry for them, but I bet Haiti one day needs to pay for their selves. Together, they can and will accomplish that.

The Haitians will have to understand that they are facing serious trouble that will change their life. This trouble will make them understand more in the world, where you can‘t just do nothing, but to act about it. They have to face trouble where they can’t just depend on someone, but their own country. Doing nothing can’t help anything, and when you are down, the only thing you can depend on is yourself. Haiti needs to depend on themselves because they got themselves into this, and it’s their job to get out of it.

I have researched some opinions on the internet to see if people agree with me. I also interviewed people and asked them if Haiti will become stronger from other people. Here are some opinions that. “This is an opportunity to reimagine the future for the Haitian people, to build what they want to become, not rebuild what they used to be,” -Bill Clinton said as he told this to influential gathering business and political leaders at Swiss resort of Davos. It is a time for Haiti to think to the beyond. Not just to rebuild time after time this horrible mistake, but to rebuild who they’ve always wanted to dream. Instead of Haiti just dreaming and imagining it, they should be able to live it.

Clinton also added that Haiti could emerge stronger in economy after the earthquake on January 12, using and citing Rwanda’s economic improvement after the Civil War. If they went through much terrain, then Haiti can also do it. If someone can do this, they can do it too. For example, four years ago after the genocide of 1998 Rwanda’s per capita income was $298. Ten years later it was $1,100 and it nearly quadrupled. Americans think that Haiti can get a better economy by learning from us and other mistakes from the past by other countries. Just looking at ours, may affect theirs. They may want to reach that goal (economy wise), or come up with better goal just looking at our economy. Or they could also have an improvement like other countries such as Rwanda. They could learn much more from our economy. Have you ever heard this quote? “If you don’t learn from history, you’re bound to do it again,” -Mr. Wilson said during class. It had nothing to do with the Haitian 2010 earthquake, but it did have a point. If you don’t learn from the past then you are bound or most likely going to do it again. So the Haitians need to learn from this earthquake. It doesn’t mean that the earthquake will not happen, but they need to get ready to prepare for future earthquakes so their place doesn’t look like a mess like now. By prepare, I mean work as a team to build items that will help the country not to be struck like this 2010 earthquake again. Rwanda learned from their mistakes and fixed their problems. They got over it, and Haiti needs to get over this quake as well and pitch in for help to survive. If Rwanda did it, then Haiti can become as stronger as well.

"I want the people of Haiti not to have to worry about whether they can eat today or get water today... I want them to at least be able to know that from one week to the next they have a place to sleep, that it's safe and it's sanitary,"

-One of Bill Clinton’s recognizable quotes after his speech in Davos, Switzerland. Thousands of people are asking “Where’s my food?” or “When am I going to get my food?” They worry what’s going to happen next and how are they going to survive. They worry about too much of themselves and not the country. But they really need to help their country. They will eventually find that if they help their country, the will soon come to a point where they will have that dream house where it’s safe. They will finally live in the safe country instead of sleeping if the streets. That is if they help their country.

Americans believe that we should help the United States first. The United States is also experiencing economy crisis. I mean sure, Haiti seems like they are suffering way much more, but US is our country. We must help the homeless people here in the US first before we help Haiti with their homeless people. But there are some people like Bill Clinton and George Bush that think we must help Haiti first. Haiti is experiencing more than us, and if we help them, they may learn from us and soon, they will become more successful. We can always fix our problems later, but Haiti has a bigger problem we must deal with right now. US only has a few problems there and here, but Haiti needs the help. We must help them so they can learn and not to do the same things they have done before, and prepare for the worst.

So in your overall opinion, what do you think Haiti will become after this tragedy. Do you think it will come out stronger and powerful than ever before from it’s mistakes? Or do you think it will get weaker, and just live with the same poor old economy. What is your opinion? I think that Haiti will just be the most successful countries in the western hemisphere stronger than ever. They are most likely to learn from the mistakes because if you do not learn your mistakes from history, you are bound to do it again.

The author's comments:

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in our Western Hemisphere. I was inspired to write a piece of a country that could survive a tragic together. Haiti is a great example of team work that teens need to do together to accomplish a goal and what other way to show it than Haiti.

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